Wicked Local Hanover
NSRWA names Peter Hainer new president
By Kate Walsh
Posted Dec 18, 2018 at 4:30 PM
For the next two years, Peter Hainer will be president of the North and South Rivers Watershed Association.
Haines has a history with the organization, having been a board member since 2000 and a member for even longer.
“We’re the major environmental group in the South Shore,” Hainer said.
Hainer is a Norwell resident who lives on River Street and taught sociology, criminal justice and anthropology at Curry College for 43 years.
The goal of the NSRWA is to educate and engage the public on conserving and developing healthy rivers.
Dam removal has been a major project for the organization, having removed the Tack Factory, Hunters Pond and Mill Pond dam in the past.
Most recently, the NSRWA has been working with Marshfield officials and veterans in removing Veterans Pond Dam at the mouth of the river and in Marshfield and Temple Street Dam in Duxbury.
“The dams, especially the one in Veterans Park in Marshfield, are preventing fish migration as they can’t get over the fish ladder,” NSRWA Executive Director Samantha Woods said.
The project seeks to increase municipal resilience to climate change, improve water quality and to help migratory fish such as river herring and American eel.
“We’re not trying to remove dams just for the heck of it,” he said. “It involves restoring the environment to the way it was when people first came here from Europe. Our goal is to partner with people and convince them that it’s in everyone’s interest to have conservation.”
Early on, the NSRWA managed to get the North River be a federally protected river, the only one in Massachusetts, setting special restrictions on development along it.
“Any development that happens has to go through permitting and has to be concerned with protecting that environment,” Hainer said. “We want this river to be available long after I’m gone. I don’t think there’s a better view in Massachusetts than driving up Route 3.”
The NSRWA always hopes people use and appreciate the healthy river that will remain for generations.
The NSRWA’s 50th anniversary will be celebrated in 2020 and for the past three years, one of the non-profit’s goals is to double their budget.
This is becoming a reality thanks to a generous $200,000 matching gift by the Bloomwhistle Charitable Fund.
“It’s a very generous trust because he has offered to match more than double, in some cases triple, small amounts to encourage membership,” he said. “It’s a real help to us.”
As the year draws to a close, the NSRWA will be hosting two special events, including an Open House and their Twilight Solstice Exploration.
The Open House will take place Thursday, Dec. 20 from 3 to 6 p.m. to celebrate the holiday season and the NSRWA’s accomplishments in protecting our waters.
The event will be held at 214 South St.
The Twilight Solstice Exploration invites families to take a walk under the light of a full moon in the Norris Reservation to learn about nocturnal animals led by the NSRWA’s new Environmental Educator Brian Taylor.
The walk is free to all and will take place on Friday, Dec. 21 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Norris Reservation.
Registration is required for the walk.
For more information on either event and to register for the walk, visit nsrwa.org/nsrwa-events/.
Follow Kate Walsh on Twitter at @MarinerKate.
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